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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: February 25th, 2025.
Director: Jeff Gillen, Alan Ormsby
Cast: Roberts Blossom, Cosette Lee, Leslie Carlson
Year: 1974
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Deranged – Movie Review:
Also known as Deranged: Confessions Of A Necrophile (which is an odd title because there's no confessing in the movie), this 1974 film co-directed by Jeff Gillen and Alan Ormsby and distribute by American International Pictures was shot in Canada doubling for Wisconsin. Why not just shoot in Wisconsin? Because when the mayor of the town where they planned to shoot found out what the filmmakers were up to, he declined and then called the Governor to make sure they didn't come around. Why would anyone in Wisconsin care? Because Deranged is basically the story of that state's most notorious criminal, serial killer Ed Gein.
The film begins with an on-screen narrator named Tom Sims (Leslie Carlson) who requests of the audience that we try to learn from the movie. From here, we meet Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom) as he tends to his dying mother, Amanda (Cosette Lee). Before she shuffles off this mortal coil, she warns him again about the wages of sin and to keep away from troublemaking women! After her funeral, Ezra gives up farming the land he was raised on and takes work as a handyman for Harlon Kootz (Robert Warner) and his family. During dinner with them one night her learns of the newspaper's obituary section where he can learn about where to find dead bodies before they're buried.
Armed with that knowledge he sets out to dig up his old Sunday School teacher and use her parts to help keep the recently dug up corpse of his mother in tip-top shape. Soon enough, however, Ezra wants fresher kills, whether it be the portly widow Maureen Selby (Marian Waldman) or the attractive but 'over the hill' waitress at a dive bar named Mary (Micki Moore). Of course, it's only a matter of time until Ezra's murderous ways catch up with him...
Those familiar with the films of Bob Clark (who served as a producer on this, though he's not listed in the credits), will no doubt recognize some of the cast members here from his films Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things and Black Christmas. Ormsby, who played the lead in Children, does a great job of working some twisted black humor into the storyline (something that producer Tom Karr takes issue with in the extras) but never to the point where it feels out of place or disruptive. This is still fairly gruesome stuff, and the makeup effects (some of which were handled by a then newbie to the industry named Tom Savini) leave little to the imagination.
The Ontario locations, found just outside of Toronto, do a great job of doubling for Wisconsin (though a few telltale signs like an Ontario license plate and a newspaper rack holding copies of the Toronto Star give things away) and the movie has a sufficiently bleak, cold tone to it not too far off from what Ivan Reitman captured with Cannibal Girls. Ezra's house isn't quite as over the top in its morbidity as the Sawyer family home is in Texas Chain Saw Massacre (also inspired by Gein's exploits) but it works on the same level, particularly when Ezra gets Mary home for dinner. If Psycho and Texas Chain Saw Massacre beat Deranged to screens, however, this one earns points for being the most accurate representation of Gains' depraved story.
Having said that, as clever as the script is and as effective as the direction and pacing are, the real reason that this movie works as well as it does is the casting of Roberts Blossom in the lead role. He's perfectly twitchy and weird and quirky and off just enough that you know something's up with the guy. So much of the film's success lies on his shoulders that you can't imagine anyone else doing a better job in the part. The supporting cast are all fun too - Cosette Lee is great as the mother and Marian Waldman is a kick as the portly widow who can't keep her paws off of Ezra, though not without getting her late husband's permission first.
It's also worth noting that the films is presented on this UHD/Blu-ray release in its uncut form - that means the skull sawing sequence is presented here completely intact (the previous MGM Midnite Movies DVD release was the edited version).
Deranged – UHD/Blu-ray Review:
Deranged arrives on UHD from Vinegar Syndrome in an HEVC encoded 2160p transfer "newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range" and framed at 1.85.1 widescreen. Offering considerably improved detail over the past Blu-ray release, the transfer still retains the film’s authentically gritty, grimy look quite nicely. The film’s bleak color scheme is well-preserved, with the red blood really popping in spots, while skin tones look perfectly natural. Black levels are deep and strong and shadows detail is also quite good. There are no problems to note with any compression issues and the transfer shows no noise reduction or edge enhancement. Some print damage shows up here and there, but it’s minor – white specks and small scratches – and never especially distracting. Overall, this looks very good on UHD.
Audio chores are handled by an English language 24-bit DTS-HD 1.0 Mono track, with SDH subtitles provided in English only. The track sounds good, demonstrating some depth and range and times and presented with perfect clarity, even if sometimes it sounds a little thin (as it has on past home video releases on both DVD and Blu-ray, so likely an issue with the elements). Dialogue is easy to understand, the levels are nicely balanced and the overall the mix sounds just fine.
Extras start off with a commentary with co-director Alan Ormsby that's moderated by Elijah Drenner. Ormsby also wrote the movie and had a hand in pretty much every other aspect of the production as well. He tells some interesting stories about how Bob Clark was responsible for getting him the work on this, what it was like shooting the film in Canada, his relationship with the cast and crew including a young Tom Savini and quite a bit more. He's got a sharp memory and on the rare occasion that he does slow down a bit, Drenner is quick with a good question to get him back on track. The disc also contains a second commentary, this one with film historian Richard Harland Smith. Here we get a very informed critical analysis of the film that does an interesting job comparing it to other cinematic takes on Ed Gein's legacy. Smith's a good speaker and he does a great job of detailing the history of the movie, covering who did what on the picture and loads more.
A second commentary track features special effects artist Tom Savini moderated by Calum Waddell that opens with Savini talking about how he was approached to direct a remake of the film before then going on to share about how much fun Alan Ormsby was to work with, the Ed Gein story and other movies that were influenced by it, Roberts Blossom’s acting ability and how nice a guy he was in real life, how cold it was on set, his work doing makeup effects on the film, why Bob Clark’s name is not on the film despite being a producer on the movie, how some of the effects were created, where his own career was at during this period, his background and training, lessons that he’s learned that he tries to pass on to his students, his thoughts on various modern horror movies and lots more. This isn’t always specific to Deranged, a lot of it is Savini telling stories about various other projects, but it’s interesting to listen to.
Commentary track number three is a talk with film historian Richard Harland Smith that starts off being giving a history of Ed Gein and his notorious murders and what was found at the crime scene when he was caught, what went into casting Roberts Blossom for the lead and details on his career as an actor, details on the other cast and crew members that worked on the picture, some of the horrible 'Geiner' jokes that came out after his story hit the press, other film versions that have been made out of the Ed Gein story over the years, the state of America in a post-war world and how that influenced both society and cinema, the fandom that has developed around Ed Gein over the years, the locations that were used for the movie, how doing a load of research into Ed Gein took its toll on his psyche, the archetypal moments in the film, how the movie differs from the actual case and lots more. Interesting stuff.
Very Unnatural Deaths is a twelve-minute interview with special effects artist Tom Savini who talks about how much fun he had on set, how this was only his second movie, what it was like on set, how he connected with Alan Ormsby and his team and how that lead to working on Deathdream, making Deranged directly after Deathdream, memories of working in Canada, buying prop skulls from a hobby store, what went into making the corpses seen throughout the movie, learning about Ed Gein from his work on the movie, the difficulty of getting blood to look right on camera and why working on the movie remains a fond memory for him.
Actor Brian Smegal is up next in the twelve minute It Was a Fun Time!, where he speaks about auditioning for the movie (the first he'd ever read for), his background in live theater, learning about working for film while on the production, dealing with his agent to get the role, filming in his home town of Oshawa, getting along with his co-stars and memories of Blossom specifically, the amount of detail that went into the movie, what the directors were like to work with, thoughts on some of the stronger gore scenes in the film, how the shoot was pretty isolated, what it was like seeing himself on the big screen for the first time and seeing his last name spelled wrong in the credits.
Disturbed, Demented, Deranged is a twenty-four-minute piece where Nightmare USA author Stephen Thrower dissects the movie and its history in his typically fascinating style. Lots of information here about how the movie was based on the Ed Gein case, how folk tales started to arise around Gein, whether or not Gein was a necrophile, Robert Bloch's take on the story with Psycho, how Alan Ormsby, Jeff Gillen and Bob Clark came to make their own version of the Ed Gein story after meeting Tom Karr, changes that were made from the actual Ed Gein story, what was shot on location versus on set, the importance of Roberts Blossom to the effectiveness of the movie, how the film was received after debuting in Wisconsin, the movie's general release history, what some of the participants went on to do after the movie, and why certain scenes in the film still retain plenty of impact.
The thirteen minute The Making Of Deranged is an archival documentary that runs thirteen minutes. Taken from an old tape source, it isn't in great shape but it does include insight from Tom Karr, Tom Savini and Jeff Gillen covering coming up with the script, changes that were made and the one area where the movie deviates from the real story, creating the effects work, casting the movie and Blossom's commitment to the part and how much fun everyone had making the movie. There's also a lot of great behind the scenes footage included here.
Also on the disc is an archival interview with Tom Karr, the film's producer. He talks for about seventeen minutes about how he wanted to make a horror movie after working for some time as a music promotor. He then details how he got in touch with Bob Clark who in turn put him in touch with Ormsby, the casting process (noting that both Harvey Keitel and Christopher Walken auditioned for the role of Ezra), why the movie was shot in Canada, the film's legacy, how the film wound up with AIP and how he'd like to one day get a remake done.
Finishing up the extras are three original trailers, a fifteen second introduction from Tom Savaini, TV spot, an image gallery, menus and chapter selection options.
This release comes packaged with some nice reversible cover sleeve artwork and, if you purchase directly from the Vinegar Syndrome website, you can get a limited edition slipcover set designed by Jacob Phillips, which is limited to 6,000 units. Included inside the case is a full color insert booklet containing an essay on the film by Staci Layne Wilson titled ‘Beyond The Headlines: Roberts Blossom And The Quiet Terror Of Deranged’ that’s well worth a read, accompanied by some archival images and credits for the release.
Deranged – The Final Word:
Deranged holds up really well, it's a sick little picture that's still got a lot of bite. Highlighted by Blossom's fantastic lead performance the film makes very good use of its low budget, and it remains a pretty entertaining watch. The UHD/Blu-ray release from Vinegar Syndrome presents the film in a great presentation and with a strong selection of extra features that explores the history and importance of the film. Highly recommended!